Whilst Tom Boonen won his 4th Tour of Qatar, it was a bumpy finish for double stage winner Mark Cavendish as he fell in the bunch kick won by Frenchman, Arnaud Demare (under 23 champion in 2011).
Other stages: Stage 5 Report | Stage 4 Report | Stage 3Â Report | Stage 2Â Report | Stage Report 1
After Cavendish managed to get up off the deck and cross the line, his final position in the race was 6th overall and leading Brit with Adam Blythe in 10th overall. The stage saw a break of seven get themselves some TV time but the sprinter teams were too strong for them stay away and once the race was together, there was the usual race to dominate the bunch kick.
Win number four in Qatar for Tom Boonen.. PhotoSport International. uk usa asia
Cavendish is reported to have run into the back wheel of Tyler Farrar but despite some scrapes and bruises is said to be more angry than hurt and afterwards, rode back to the team hotel. Afterwards Team Sky Sports Director Steven de Jongh explained what happened to Cavendish: “Cav touched the back wheel of Farrar during the sprint. He wanted to go but Kluge came across and he hesitated a bit. He wanted to go again but then they touched wheels with Farrar and went down. It’s a pity to finish the race that way but luckily we have two wins and he has nothing broken so we can move onto Oman now.”
“We’ve have two guys in the top 10 with Cav and Flecha and have won two stages so it’s been pretty good race for the team overall.”
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Win number 4 for Tom Boonen
Omega Pharma-Quickstep meanwhile were delighted with their riders after Boonen’s fourth win in the race. It was Tom Boonen’s fourth career Tour of Qatar and he spent the stage playing it safe on a scrappy bunch sprint where world champion Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) crashed after touching wheels with another rider just meters before the finish. All Boonen had to do was cross the line with the group to take home the gold leader’s jersey for Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team.
Win number four in Qatar for Boonen.. PhotoSport International. uk usa asia
Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team worked hard early on in the race to try and bring a seven rider break back. Speeds reached upwards of 55km per hour at one point. Matt Brammeier was spotted at the front of the peloton for the final 14 km as a seven man breakaway was brought back together. He took several hard pulls at the front of a very fast paced peloton.
“Today we implemented an effective strategy,” explained Sports Director Wilfried Peeters. “We didn’t want to take any chances. A fall would have compromised the work of one week. The guys stayed close to Tom, who didn’t want to risk anything. A flat or a fall in the last kilometers would have been a problem. For us today, it was important to maintain our leadership in the race. Overall in Qatar, we saw a great Tom Boonen but in general, a great team, able to also win the classification for teams and to place Steegmans in 4th place. Today, Gert also tried to make up a few seconds in the intermediate sprint so he could get to the third step on the podium, but to no avail. The guys rode a tight race and the results have rewarded us. It’s been a phenomenal start of 2012 for our team. Now we have to try to maintain this form and this spirit for the races to come.”
Steegmans played a crucial role in Boonen’s Tour of Qatar victory. He worked through chaos on several races to lead out Boonen for stage wins. Stage 4 was particularly impressive, in which Steegmans, and teammate Nikolas Maes, helped Boonen bridge to a few attacking riders. Steegmans also finished fourth place overall. However, the entire team worked to protect Boonen every day. Stijn Vandenbergh, Frantisek Rabon and Brammeier rode hard from the first kilometre to the last to protect their GC leader on Stage 5. Francesco Chicchi did the same earlier in the stage race, but fell ill before Stage 5 and did not start.
Boonen has also won nearly half of all stages since Tour of Qatar began. “I’ve never been interested in records,” said Boonen. “However it’s nice to win this race for the fourth time. After the good test in Argentina, I wanted to win in Qatar. There were a lot of competitors here but I was also lucky that the route was adapted to my skills. I built my victory in the first stage and in the fourth stage – both were very difficult – then I concentrated on defending myself in the other stages.”
“Today I didn’t want to take any risks, so as not to blow a week’s worth of work. I’m satisfied; this is my first step back to high level cycling. Now it will be important to stay calm and concentrate on fine tuning this conditioning. In Oman I’m going to be racing in support of my team mates, who have been fantastic in this start of 2012. There’s a great atmosphere on the team, I thank all of them for the fantastic job they’ve done for me. It would be a dream to be able to help one of them clinch a personal success.”
Stage 6
1    Arnaud Demare   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat   02:20:44
2    Denis Galimzyanov   Katusha Team @ same time
3    Mark Renshaw   Rabobank Cycling Team @ same time
4    Roger Kluge   1t4i @ same time
5    Alexander Kristoff   Katusha Team @ same time
6    Tyler Farrar   Team Garmin – Barracuda @ same time
7    Daniel Oss   Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
8    Allan Davis   GreenEdge Cycling Team @ same time
9    Aaron Kemps   Champion System @ same time
10    Jens Debusschere   Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
11    Peter Sagan   Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
12    Gregory Henderson   Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
13    Fumiyuki Beppu   GreenEdge Cycling Team @ same time
14    Giacomo Nizzolo   RadioShack – Nissan @ same time
15    Tom Boonen   Omega Pharma – Quickstep @ same time
16    Ramunas Navardauskas   Team Garmin – Barracuda @ same time
17    Mickaël Delage   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat @ same time
18    Gert Steegmans   Omega Pharma – Quickstep @ same time
19    Martin Kohler   BMC Racing Team @ same time
20    Andrea Guardini   Farnese Vini – Selle Italia @ same time
21    Robert Hunter   Team Garmin – Barracuda @ same time
22    Jonas Van Genechten   Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
23    Aleksandr Kuschynski   Katusha Team @ same time
24    Taylor Phinney   BMC Racing Team @ same time
25    Tony Gallopin   RadioShack – Nissan @ same time
26    Murilo Antonio Fischer   Team Garmin – Barracuda @ same time
27    Juan Antonio Flecha   Sky Procycling @ same time
28    Hayato Yoshida   Team Bridgestone – Anchor @ same time
29    Adam Blythe   BMC Racing Team @ same time
30    Ramon Sinkeldam   1t4i @ same time
31    Jack Bauer   Team Garmin – Barracuda @ same time
32    Rüdiger Selig   Katusha Team @ same time
33    Michael Schar   BMC Racing Team @ same time
34    David Mc Cann   RTS Racing Team @ same time
35    Tom Veelers   1t4i @ same time
36    Mehdi Sohrabi   Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
37    Marcel Sieberg   Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
38    Jens Mouris   GreenEdge Cycling Team @ same time
39    Markel Irizar Aranburu   RadioShack – Nissan @ same time
40    Philippe Gilbert   BMC Racing Team @ same time
41    Marco Haller   Katusha Team @ same time
42    Frederik Willems   Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
43    Guillaume Van Keirsbulck   Omega Pharma – Quickstep @ same time
44    Pengda Jiao   Champion System @ same time
45    Yoann Offredo   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat @ same time
46    Matthias Friedemann   Champion System @ same time
47    Johan Vansummeren   Team Garmin – Barracuda @ same time
48    Fabio Sabatini   Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
49    Joost Posthuma   RadioShack – Nissan @ same time
50    Aidis Kruopis   GreenEdge Cycling Team @ same time
51    Maarten Tjallingii   Rabobank Cycling Team @ same time
52    Paolo Longho Borghini   Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
53    Mikhail Ignatyev   Katusha Team @ same time
54    Gregory Rast   RadioShack – Nissan @ same time
55    Baden Cooke   GreenEdge Cycling Team @ same time
56    David Boucher   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat @ same time
57    Mart Ojavee   Champion System @ same time
58    Lee Rodgers   RTS Racing Team @ same time
59    Thomas Dekker   Team Garmin – Barracuda @ same time
60    Svein Tuft   GreenEdge Cycling Team @ same time
61    Klaas Sys   Team Bridgestone – Anchor @ same time
62    Lars Ytting Bak   Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
63    Maciej Bodnar   Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
64    Thor Hushovd   BMC Racing Team @ same time
65    John Degenkolb   1t4i @ same time
66    Christian Knees   Sky Procycling @ same time
67    Alexandre Lemair   Team Bridgestone – Anchor @ same time
68    Jai Crawford   RTS Racing Team @ same time
69    Roy Curvers   1t4i @ same time
70    Koen De Kort   1t4i @ same time
71    Thomas Lebas   Team Bridgestone – Anchor @ same time
72    Matthieu Ladagnous   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat @ same time
73    Danilo Wyss   BMC Racing Team @ same time
74    Kazuo Inoue   Team Bridgestone – Anchor @ same time
75    Fabian Cancellara   RadioShack – Nissan @ same time
76    Albert Timmer   1t4i @ same time
77    Davide Appollonio   Sky Procycling @ same time
78    Mauro Da Dalto   Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
79    Alan Marangoni   Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
80    Nikolas Maes   Omega Pharma – Quickstep @ same time
81    Luca Ascani   Farnese Vini – Selle Italia @ same time
82    Jos Van Emden   Rabobank Cycling Team @ same time
83    Thomas Bertolini   Farnese Vini – Selle Italia @ same time
84    Kevin Hulsmans   Farnese Vini – Selle Italia   00:15
85    Diego Caccia   Farnese Vini – Selle Italia   00:18
86    Jacob Rathe   Team Garmin – Barracuda   00:25
87    Maarten Wynants   Rabobank Cycling Team @ same time
88    Christiano Benenati   Farnese Vini – Selle Italia   00:30
89    Adam Hansen   Lotto – Belisol Team   00:33
90    Stijn Vandenbergh   Omega Pharma – Quickstep @ same time
91    Robbie Mcewen   GreenEdge Cycling Team   00:36
92    Xu Gang   Champion System   00:39
93    Alessandro Vanotti   Liquigas – Cannondale   00:59
94    Pier Paolo De Negri   Farnese Vini – Selle Italia @ same time
95    Dominique Rollin   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat   01:08
96    Geoffrey Soupe   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat @ same time
97    Jeremy Hunt   Sky Procycling   01:26
98    Ian Stannard   Sky Procycling @ same time
99    Klaas Lodewyck   BMC Racing Team   01:29
100    Dennis Van Winden   Rabobank Cycling Team   01:39
101    Graeme Brown   Rabobank Cycling Team @ same time
102    Gabriel Rasch   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat   01:43
103    Bernhard Eisel   Sky Procycling   01:48
104    Mark Cavendish   Sky Procycling @ same time
105    Vladimir Isaychev   Katusha Team   02:12
106    Yaroslav Popovych   RadioShack – Nissan @ same time
107    Robert Wagner   RadioShack – Nissan @ same time
108    Alex Coutts   RTS Racing Team @ same time
109    Matthew Brammeier   Omega Pharma – Quickstep   05:58
110    Frantisek Rabon   Omega Pharma – Quickstep @ same time
DNF    Wei Kei Chang   RTS Racing Team
DNF    Tom Leezer   Rabobank Cycling Team
DNF    Ryota Nishizono   Team Bridgestone – Anchor
DNF    Miyataka Shimizu   Team Bridgestone – Anchor
DNF    Chin Lung Huang   RTS Racing Team
DNF    Dominik Klemme   1t4i
DNF    Sergey Kudentsov   RTS Racing Team
DNS    Sebastian Langeveld   GreenEdge Cycling Team
DNS    Gatis Smukulis   Katusha Team
Final Overall
1    Tom Boonen   Omega Pharma – Quickstep   15:42:14
2    Tyler Farrar   Team Garmin – Barracuda   00:28
3    Juan Antonio Flecha   Sky Procycling   00:33
4    Gert Steegmans   Omega Pharma – Quickstep   00:34
5    Tom Veelers   1t4i   01:00
6    Mark Cavendish   Sky Procycling   01:05
7    Fabian Cancellara   RadioShack – Nissan   01:06
8    Ramunas Navardauskas   Team Garmin – Barracuda   01:09
9    Aidis Kruopis   GreenEdge Cycling Team   01:10
10    Adam Blythe   BMC Racing Team   01:14
11    Johan Vansummeren   Team Garmin – Barracuda   01:19
12    Baden Cooke   GreenEdge Cycling Team   01:20
13    Mark Renshaw   Rabobank Cycling Team   01:28
14    Tony Gallopin   RadioShack – Nissan   01:31
15    John Degenkolb   1t4i   01:40
16    Frederik Willems   Lotto – Belisol Team   01:45
17    Thomas Dekker   Team Garmin – Barracuda   01:56
18    Mikhail Ignatyev   Katusha Team   02:15
19    Rüdiger Selig   Katusha Team   02:16
20    Guillaume Van Keirsbulck   Omega Pharma – Quickstep   02:17
21    Matthias Friedemann   Champion System   02:19
22    Philippe Gilbert   BMC Racing Team   02:23
23    Ramon Sinkeldam   1t4i   02:27
24    Yoann Offredo   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat   02:28
25    David Boucher   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat   02:30
26    Bernhard Eisel   Sky Procycling   02:33
27    Daniel Oss   Liquigas – Cannondale   02:52
28    Svein Tuft   GreenEdge Cycling Team   02:55
29    Arnaud Demare   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat   02:58
30    Giacomo Nizzolo   RadioShack – Nissan   02:59
31    Marcel Sieberg   Lotto – Belisol Team   03:02
32    Gregory Henderson   Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
33    Koen De Kort   1t4i   03:09
34    Maarten Wynants   Rabobank Cycling Team   03:10
35    Albert Timmer   1t4i   03:20
36    Nikolas Maes   Omega Pharma – Quickstep   03:27
37    Robert Hunter   Team Garmin – Barracuda   03:29
38    Murilo Antonio Fischer   Team Garmin – Barracuda   03:36
39    Peter Sagan   Liquigas – Cannondale   03:41
40    Davide Appollonio   Sky Procycling   03:43
41    Marco Haller   Katusha Team @ same time
42    Alexander Kristoff   Katusha Team   03:45
43    Fabio Sabatini   Liquigas – Cannondale   03:49
44    Alan Marangoni   Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
45    Lars Ytting Bak   Lotto – Belisol Team   03:50
46    Markel Irizar Aranburu   RadioShack – Nissan @ same time
47    Fumiyuki Beppu   GreenEdge Cycling Team   03:52
48    Jens Mouris   GreenEdge Cycling Team @ same time
49    Martin Kohler   BMC Racing Team @ same time
50    Michael Schar   BMC Racing Team   03:53
51    Danilo Wyss   BMC Racing Team @ same time
52    Christian Knees   Sky Procycling   04:00
53    Allan Davis   GreenEdge Cycling Team   04:05
54    Andrea Guardini   Farnese Vini – Selle Italia   04:07
55    Ian Stannard   Sky Procycling   04:13
56    Mehdi Sohrabi   Lotto – Belisol Team   04:14
57    Dominique Rollin   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat   04:16
58    Matthieu Ladagnous   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat   04:20
59    Roger Kluge   1t4i   04:21
60    Maarten Tjallingii   Rabobank Cycling Team   04:26
61    Klaas Lodewyck   BMC Racing Team   04:27
62    Robbie Mcewen   GreenEdge Cycling Team   04:32
63    Mauro Da Dalto   Liquigas – Cannondale   04:33
64    Aaron Kemps   Champion System   04:39
65    Jos Van Emden   Rabobank Cycling Team @ same time
66    Paolo Longho Borghini   Liquigas – Cannondale   04:44
67    Mickaël Delage   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat   04:49
68    Jack Bauer   Team Garmin – Barracuda   04:53
69    Diego Caccia   Farnese Vini – Selle Italia   05:04
70    Jonas Van Genechten   Lotto – Belisol Team   05:05
71    Geoffrey Soupe   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat   05:07
72    Kevin Hulsmans   Farnese Vini – Selle Italia   05:09
73    David Mc Cann   RTS Racing Team   05:10
74    Roy Curvers   1t4i   05:22
75    Gregory Rast   RadioShack – Nissan   05:28
76    Jacob Rathe   Team Garmin – Barracuda @ same time
77    Pier Paolo De Negri   Farnese Vini – Selle Italia   05:29
78    Gabriel Rasch   Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat   05:42
79    Graeme Brown   Rabobank Cycling Team   06:09
80    Thomas Lebas   Team Bridgestone – Anchor   06:17
81    Stijn Vandenbergh   Omega Pharma – Quickstep @ same time
82    Aleksandr Kuschynski   Katusha Team   06:33
83    Denis Galimzyanov   Katusha Team   06:36
84    Luca Ascani   Farnese Vini – Selle Italia   06:48
85    Joost Posthuma   RadioShack – Nissan   06:59
86    Vladimir Isaychev   Katusha Team   07:17
87    Jeremy Hunt   Sky Procycling   07:22
88    Thomas Bertolini   Farnese Vini – Selle Italia   07:31
89    Adam Hansen   Lotto – Belisol Team   07:50
90    Mart Ojavee   Champion System   08:12
91    Jens Debusschere   Lotto – Belisol Team   08:30
92    Alessandro Vanotti   Liquigas – Cannondale   09:41
93    Alexandre Lemair   Team Bridgestone – Anchor   09:50
94    Matthew Brammeier   Omega Pharma – Quickstep   10:14
95    Yaroslav Popovych   RadioShack – Nissan   11:37
96    Taylor Phinney   BMC Racing Team   12:29
97    Maciej Bodnar   Liquigas – Cannondale   12:59
98    Christiano Benenati   Farnese Vini – Selle Italia   13:03
99    Thor Hushovd   BMC Racing Team   13:20
100    Robert Wagner   RadioShack – Nissan   14:57
101    Jai Crawford   RTS Racing Team   16:08
102    Dennis Van Winden   Rabobank Cycling Team   16:52
103    Klaas Sys   Team Bridgestone – Anchor   17:40
104    Kazuo Inoue   Team Bridgestone – Anchor   20:26
105    Lee Rodgers   RTS Racing Team   20:58
106    Hayato Yoshida   Team Bridgestone – Anchor   22:27
107    Alex Coutts   RTS Racing Team   23:13
108    Pengda Jiao   Champion System   23:30
109    Xu Gang   Champion System   25:51
110    Frantisek Rabon   Omega Pharma – Quickstep   27:1
